Also a similar letter from Registrar Blacknight (pdf): "... We believe, therefore, that the requests for data are not sincere but are designed to create a particular narrative to reinforce AppDetex and Facebook’s particular views ..." (emphasis added)

Original Post:“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push, in just the right place, it can be tipped.”--Malcolm Gladwell.

"... [EPDP] working group was due to make its interim recommendations by an ICANN meeting [ICANN63] in Barcelona in October, but the meeting approaches, there is no sign of consensus ... The current temporary policy was only possible because the ICANN board imposed it, in an unprecedented break from tradition. So, what will happen next? As is often the case with ICANN, the organization and its multi-stakeholder process is facing an existential crisis. Unable to solve this thorny policy issue for 20 years, ICANN’s latest group is unlikely to find consensus in the following days. ICANN has lostin the German courts and the European Data Protection Board (pdf) views with skepticism ICANN's claims that the interest of 'third parties' can justify continued collection and publication of WHOIS data ..."--Emily Taylor (EPDP RrSG member), ChathamHouse.org (emphasis added).

"... ICANN has consistently asserted that it is not a government regulator and it is readily apparent that it cannot be relied upon to fill that role. To the extent that ICANN has historically involved itself in pricing, it has been to increase pricing for the mutual benefit of itself and Verisign, at the expense of the American consumer [domain name registrants] ..."--18 Oct 2018 Letter (pdf) from Internet Commerce Association (ICA) to David Redl, NTIA, US Dept of Commerce re: Expiry of NTIA-Verisign Cooperative Agreement Nov 30, 2018 (pdf) (emphasis added).

Civil society groups blast ICANN Org’s push for a “Unified Access Model”--internetgovernance.org Oct 19, 2018: "... some participants in the [EPDP] group are becoming uneasy about ICANNCEO Goran Marby’s relentless promotion of a “Unified Access Model” [UAM]. They fear that the CEO’s “discussion papers” and calls for public comment are turning into a parallel policy development process that will pre-empt or circumvent the decisions made by the EPDP and other normal ICANN processes. Yesterday the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) published a blistering set of comments (pdf) on Marby’s UAM ..."

"... as members of the ICANN community are not presently aware that this situation exists, and as a 15-minute session cannot be expected to lay out the facts in a completely clear and comprehensive fashion, we wonder what follow-up explanation will be provided to the community as well as interested media if follow-up questions are subsequently raised. We look forward to Sunday’s discussion so that the Council and community can start to learn as much as possible from this situation and take responsive steps ..."

Editor's note: readers will note I have made no other mention of the RPM working group (RPM WG) other than the Sunday GNSO agenda item above. The RPM WG has been working on the URS (UDRP to come in a later phase), which only applies to new gTLDs and a few other gTLDs but not .COM. Registrants are fortunate that among the active members of the RPM working group are EFF's Mitch Stoltz, as well as Harvard Law Professor Rebecca Tushnet who posted to the RPM mail list Oct 19:

"URS levels of support for public comments ... I don't think the staff categorizations have worked. If the ultimate point is to get feedback on potential fixes that have been raised, and we don't want to spend a lot more time on this, then I would say we may need to pass on the proposals as non-consensus proposals for community feedback. As Greg Shatan [IPC] did, I supported proposals for comment that I am presently unlikely to support for adoption; based on other comments, I suspect many of us did so--which means that any staff-prepared summary of objections received is also going to be unrepresentative of the full range of arguments against a particular proposal unless we spend a lot more time on it. One specific thing: the charter asks if the URS is fit for purpose. If you agree that the charge allows the answer "no," then one recommendation for a fix is "make it the UDRP," if you think the game isn't worth the candle. That proposal is thus clearly within scope."

a. TheICANN GNSO EPDP Working Group has a busy week at ICANN63 with four face-to-face (F2F) meetingsand a special high interest topic Monday session (links to all above). Links to all EPDP meetings' transcripts and recordings are on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP links: wiki, mail list, action items, Temp Spec, EPDP Charter (pdf), GNSO's EPDP page and updates. Info on last week's Oct 16 meeting on last week's News Review. GDPR & EPDP related:

First Semiannual Report To Congress(pdf)on NTIA’s ICANN Activities (FY2018) excerpt: "... In addition to the EPDP, NTIA is also pursuing avenues for specifically addressing the development and implementation of a unified access mechanism to permit access to non-public WHOIS information ..."

The FY19 ICANN Board Activities & Priorities: ".... European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ... Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) - We are closely monitoring these discussions, with two Board members serving as liaisons to the EPDP. We acknowledge the progress that has been made so far and look forward to the group reaching timely consensus on a new policy to replace the Temporary Specification ..."

b.EBERO: Request for Proposal: EBERO Services | ICANN.org--EBERO in ICANNspeak is "Emergency Back-End Registry Operator" services--"For a complete overview and timeline for the RFP, please click here (pdf) ... Indications of interest must be emailed to: EBEROServices-rfp @ icann.org by 23:59 UTC on 05 November 2018. Complete proposals must be electronically submitted by 16:00 UTC on 3 December 2018 using the ICANN org sourcing (RFP) tool, access to which will be granted after receipt of an indication of interest to the email address above." More info at link above.

GDPR:GDPR DPAshave been deluged with complaints about violations and queries. European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Giovanni Buttarelli: "I expect first GDPR fines for some cases by the end of the year."

At the crossroads: China, Europe & the US offer different 'internet freedom' models | TheDrum.com: "Europe, the crucible for democracy and capitalism, seems more aware than the US and China of the need to set the boundaries for how institutions and businesses can use the data of its citizens. With GDPR, there is an explicit recognition that power needs to be given back to the citizen to offer checks and balances against a non-transparent world of internet disruption that has recently shown the limitations of self-regulation."

EGYPT:Facebook drove Egypt's revolution. Now it's being used as a weapon to oppress women--wired.co.uk: Egyptian law enforcement is using the country's new law against “fake news” to imprison women who share their sexual harassment experiences on social platforms.